Getting the Chaos Under Control
Happy Friday, friend.
I’m writing to you from my little patio today with full-on summertime bliss vibes all around, lettuce and tomatoes growing, new seeds starting, freshly hatched baby robins chirp-chirping, a light breeze making 73°F feel like perfection. . .
There are also black flies swarming, a summer cold/flu threatening, and the sound of the neighbor’s wood chipper annoying me, but let’s not talk about that. Because I want to share with you the quotes I’ve collected this week, and my goodness are they good ones!
#1
A dear friend texted me yesterday to share this quote from Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, which is now at the tippy top of my very long TBR list⤵
“Truth’s a menace, science is a public danger. As dangerous as it’s been beneficent.”
I believe it was her way of giving voice to the disbelief and despondency threatening with every news cycle these days. I don’t know about you, but I’m at a loss of what to do. I find that reading helps, especially good dystopian novels. And authentically connecting with real people helps a lot too, so thank you for being here. 💓
#2
I wandered into my local used bookshop last weekend, just for a peek, and came home with two like-new Fredrik Backman novels—Anxious People and Britt-Marie Was Here. Imagine my delight when I found these delicious words on chapter 1, page 1 of Anxious People ⤵
“Some of us never manage to get the chaos under control,
so our lives simply carry on,
the world spinning through space at two million miles an hour
while we bounce about on its surface like so many lost socks.”
They made me feel less alone somehow, like maybe I’m not the only one juggling too many things, wearing too many hats, trying and failing to take care of myself along with everything and everyone I love. In case you haven’t yet experienced the word-genius that is Fredrik Backman, he’s the author of My Friends and A Man Called Ove, two novels I absolutely adored and gushed over on the blog in recent years. You can read those blogs here and here. 🤓
#3
I returned to the pages of my favorite daily reader several mornings this week for some much-needed comfort and encouragement and ran across two gorgeous quotes I’ve underlined and earmarked many times ⤵
“We think it’s the big moments and achievements we’ll never forget,
but truly it’s the small and overlooked blessings that tell the narrative of our lives.
The big moments are life’s punctuation marks.”
~Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance
“In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed:
They must be fit for it.
They must not do too much of it.
And they must have a sense of success in it.”
~John Ruskin (1812-1900) Leading Victorian art critic, as quoted in Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach
I find these very necessary reminders as summer is almost here with fireflies to watch, stargazing hours to log, raspberries to pick, patios and porches to linger on, sprinklers to run through, and watermelons that absolutely must be eaten 🍉
Wherever you are this weekend, whatever bliss or chaos on your mind and in your heart, I hope something in this little message of mine lifts your spirit, gives you hope, and lets you know you’re not alone, never, ever alone.
& should you want to chat, I’m around :)
✌🏼️💓 🪴📚
Celeste
